The biggest culprit in the encounter was Desire Oparanoize who missed a sitter in the 32nd minute following a brilliant cutback pass from Oshoala.

Dennerby admitted in his post-match interview that despite their profligacy in front of goal, a draw would have been a fair result for his side.

“I am very disappointed that we lost the game, ” Dennerby said in his post-match interview after the game.

“It would have been fair if the game had ended in a draw. We had a bit more of the possession and South Africa are really good on counter attacks; we were aware and had analysed before the game so we knew what was coming. I think everybody will agree that we should have scored at least once in the first half and we missed that chance.”

Dennerby’s side are the most successful side in the history of the competition having won the competition eight times, will look to bounce back from the defeat in their next game when they face group leaders, Zambia on Wednesday.

Zambia pulled one of the biggest surprises in the history of the competition on Sunday defeating Equatorial Guinea by 5-0 in a Group B clash in Cape Coast to record their first ever win.

Zambia top Group B with three points after matchday-one. South Africa are in the second position also on three points but with weaker goal difference scored. Nigeria occupy the third spot with no point, better than fourth placed Equatorial Guinea with fewer goals conceded.

COMMENTS

Mr. Coach your VC needs to be checked again, the way and manner in which the Falcons played showed that, you are ill informed about how the game is played in African. Another thing I noticed is that, our girls couldn’t capitalized on their vast experience, given the fact that, we have been playing this same team over and over the years in female competition in African. Our girls are getting old, as we can see in the field of play, new players need to find their way into the team to complement the old and tired legs, and that is where the NFF need to invest more in female football and league. We couldn’t qualify for the U17 world cup because, we are not taking female football seriously like before, the U17 is the bedrock for a good national football team, grassroots development plan. And when that is lacking then, we will have problem in the long run with female football in Nigeria.

I said it here on this platform before the match that it wasn’t going to be an easy match. However I least expected a loss. African women’s football is closing up tight. Denerby seem to be blaming these girls for some crucial misses in the match. He seem not to find any fault from himself. This is not the time to blame our gallant and patriotic ladies we haven’t celebrated as we should and had disregarded in the past especially after they won the cup in Cameroon 2016. I hope we learn from this loss and utilise our chances when they come such as in the South African game. I believe our girls had been charged with this loss and would go out there to beat Zambia and equatorial guinea to qualify for the quarter finals. Love you ladies!!!. Up super falcons of Nigeria.

There is certainly a lot wrong with female football and in particular THE TEAM WHICH FILED OUT YESTERDAY. There was no cohesion, no tactical display in our pattern of play, in fact all the departments attack, midfield, defence let us down. Where is the aggressive but disciplined style which Nigeria is noted for? the South African team played to the whistle while the Nigerian team fizzled out towards the end. The team must improve drastically and win its remaining matches otherwise its the end of the road